Gitobu Imanyara's hotel room raided by thugs at midnight in Libya

TWO men believed to be Kenyans broke into Gitobu Imanyara's hotel room in Tripoli on September 11 while he was asleep.

Imanyara was in a delegation of MPs from the Pan African Parliament invited to attend the celebrations of President Muammar Gaddafi's 40 years in power.

He and other MPs including Nominated MP Musa Sirma at-ended a formal dinner hosted by Gaddafi on Friday, September 11 and had returned to the hotel where they were booked.

In the middle of the night, Imanyara woke up as two men entered the room using a security swipe card. The men ran off after Imanyara started shouting and raised the alarm.

One man was carrying a spray can which apparently led Imanyara to speculate that he would be kidnapped after being sedated.

When Imanyara went downstairs after the incident, the hotel management reportedly said the two men who accessed Imanyara's hotel room were Kenyans and had booked themselves into the hotel using Kenyan passports. However the 'Kenyans' by that time had vanished.

Curiously the hotel management claimed to have no record of Imanyara's presence after he asked them to explain how the two 'guests' could have accessed his room without the master key card.

Imanyara had completed a guest form on arrival so that he could be issued with his room key card.

The hotel security persuaded Imanyara not to make an official complaint at the time.

"They told the MP to forget about the incident. That it was a small thing as he had not been harmed. They said that after all people were fasting and there was no need for unnecessary scuffles over small issues," said a reliable source with Libyan connections.

Yesterday, Imanyara said he suspected the two men had been sent to eliminate him. He declined to disclose more details about the incident saying he would do so at a press conference today.

The Imenti Central MP has filed a complaint with the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and asked Interpol to launch investigations into the attack that has left him deeply shocked.

"We have received a formal complaint from the MP but we have made contacts with our consul in Tripoli to get to the bottom of the matter," Foreign Affairs PS Thuita Mwangi said yesterday.

Mwangi said little had been done so far as no complete report had been obtained from the Kenyan embassy in Tripoli.

Sirma, who is with Prime Minister Raila Odinga in the United States, is expected to record a statement with Interpol when he returns.

A group of Njuri Njeke elders, who were in Libya at the same time at a different forum organised by Gaddafi, have demanded that the Kenyan ambassador to Libya Ephraim Waweru Ngare provide an explanation for the incident.

Ngare yesterday declined to comment.

"I have no idea about what you are talking about. I have no information at all, and furthermore, these are weighty issues we cannot discuss on phone, maybe in Tripoli," said Ngare.

Attempts to reach, the Libyan ambassador to Kenya, Taher Ali Mawan, were fruitless as our calls to the embassy went unanswered.

Yesterday, the Njuri Ncheke elders said they were unhappy with the threats against Imanyara whom they regarded as a junior elder.

"Imanyara is a member of the Nchuri Ncheke and he is our son whom we shall fight for by tooth and nail to ensure that he is not harassed by anybody," said the Njuri Ncheke chairman Paul M'lthinkia flanked by the secretary general Phares Ruteere and the council's spiritual leader Pastor Marangu Mugambi.

Addressing a press conference held at a Meru hotel, the elders demanded an explanation from the government regarding the incident.

They also demanded that Imanyara's security be increased as well as for other vocal MPs criticizing the grand coalition government.

"We are demanding that action be taken urgently to have the security of Imanyara and others like Dr Bonny Khalwale and Martha Karua strengthened further," said Mugambi.

The elders pointed out that last month his office was broken into and only his computer hard disk and files relating to cases involving a member of First Family were taken.

Money and other valuable items in the office were untouched.

The elders asked the new Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere to investigate the incidents and bring the suspects to book.

Imanyara has upset some politicians by trying to push through a special local tribunal law to deal with the post election violence cases.

Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo who is a supporter of the Imanyara bill has also received threats from some of his Cabinet colleagues who warned him against pushing for the establishment of the special local tribunal. Strangers have also threatened his wife Nduku and his son, Mutula Kilonzo Jr.